Tavares to Leafs, away from the balance of power in the NHL

Several Signatures and a Great Trade Radically Changed the Balance of Forces in the NHL in Few Days

John Tavares Returning to Toronto, Paul Stastny Leaving Winnipeg for Vegas, St. Louis Signing Three Free Agents and For Ryan O'Reilly, the landscape of the league has changed. The Washington Capitals bring back a large majority of their team, the Western Conference is busy and yet the Maple Leafs now seem to be Stanley Cup favorites after adding Tavares.

"He is one of the best players in the league. Steve Yzerman, general manager of Bay, said. "And I think it's obvious to say that Toronto is a better team today with this acquisition."

Tavares' decision to leave the New York Islanders puts them out of action and puts a lot of pressure on coach Mike Babbad's Maple Leafs to make a playoff race. Losing on Tavares, despite bringing in more money than the $ 77 million Maple Leafs over 11 years, has prevented the Sharks from gaining favorite status in the West – but they do not. 39 may not have finished yet.

able to take a momentum on difference makers like that, "said GM Doug Wilson of San Jose." John was the one we wanted to swing. "

The Sharks, who extended Logan Couture and re-created Signed Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl to keep their core together, have a lot of tradable property and will continue to fight for a difference -manufacturer.One of them is withdrawn from the marketplace following the exchange Blues against O 'Reilly, which now gives them a powerful 1-2-3 in the middle with Brayden Schenn and free agent Tyler Bozak signing.

O' Reilly saw the blues sign Bozak to a three-year contract of $ 15 million and wondered if there was more room for him.Now they have centers to deal with any league opponent

"You look at all the teams that are successful, they certainly have players in the milie u of the competition, "said O & # 39; Reilly on Monday.

The Capitals took advantage of the depth with Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller at the Cup, and Babbad can now launch Tavares, Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri. Vegas lost talent on the wing with David Perron in St. Louis and James Neal in Calgary, but he now has a very competitive center corps led by Stastny, William Karlsson and Erik Haula. GM Knights George McPhee said. "You can move centers around the range, you can have centers on the wing.You can not get wingmen to play center."

Here's a look at some other teams that stand early in the preparations for the 2018-19 season:

FOUDRE: Signing Tavares would have been a luxury and could have needed a metamorphosis of the list just to fit under the salary cap. Tampa Bay has signed a free referee contract with restrictions. J.T. Miller has entered into a long-term agreement with Ryan McDonagh, a long-time defender, and has reached an agreement with Slater Koekkoek and is expected to have a large portion of the team that won the Atlantic Division last season. "I do not feel we need to change just to change."

FLAMES: Inquer Neal at $ 28.75 million, a five-year deal would be a good capper in the offseason of the Flames who started with the acquisition of the center Elias Lindholm and the defender Noah Hanifin of Carolina. New coach Bill Peters could put Neal or Lindholm on the right wing with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan

GM Treliving's last tasks during the off season are to find a substitute goalkeeper for Mike Smith and sign free contracts with Lindholm and Hanifin.

KINGS: In the long run, Drew Doughty has signed an eight-year extension contract with $ 88 million, which is the most important thing to do in Los Angeles. In the shorter term, he also won the competition for the return of Russian winger Ilya Kovalchuk, whom DG Rob Blake believes can play with center six, Anze Kopitar or Jeff Carter, and produce at the same time. age 35 years old

. Winger guy was something we had to add, "said Blake." When he's playing on power play and how he scores goals with his shot, I think it's something that we have coveted or sought. "

SENATORS: They exchanged Mike Hoffman, bought Alexander Burrows big problem with the future of defender Erik Karlsson, winner of the Norris Trophy The Senators reportedly gave Karlsson camp permission to talk with other teams about a contract – which should look a lot like Doughty's – that would allow Ottawa to trade its captain rather than lose it for nothing like the Islanders Tavares would not sign

"We start on October 4th," Pierre Dorion, General Manager said Sunday in Ottawa, "We have a lot of time."

OILERS: Connor McDavid won the scoring title and the Ted Lindsay Award as a choice of the jou for the best player, yet Edmonton missed the playoffs by 17 points. GM Peter Chiarelli sparked the 10th pick in the repechage to try to get an offensive defender and could not get one yet.

Meanwhile, left wing Milan Lucic is 30 years old and has come out of a 34-point duel. season and he still has five years to his contract with an annual cap of $ 6 million. Lucic's name appeared in the trade negotiations, but moving it now will not be easy, so the Oilers need to get ready for life with him next season.

"He is a proud guy and we expect to have him back better than last year," said Chiarelli. "My level of confidence is quite high, I think Milan is a high profile character."

THE ISLANDERS: Without Tavares, New York is full of ceiling spaces that have nothing to do with that. The property signaled the need for change by hiring Lou Lamoriello as president of the hockey operations, and in turn dismissed Garth Snow and Doug Weight, hired Barry Trotz and set up a full neutral zone trap to keep Tavares.

Lamoriello took what might be perceived as a shot at Tavares and the previous regime saying, "John has achieved great individual success on the ice" with the Islanders, who missed the playoffs in six of the nine seasons from Tavares. Without a Lamoriello miracle this offseason, they will miss the playoffs for the 12th time in 15 years.